Five-finger glove permitting wearer&#39;s hand to be liberated as it is worn

ABSTRACT

A main body of the glove is provided with an arm fastener and a wrist fastener at its arm and wrist sections, respectively, so that when a front end of a closing flap is pulled up with only the wrist fastener loosened, a substantially wide closable opening provided in the back of the main body opens. Pulling the fingertip portion of the glove causes a stretchable section to extend longitudinally against the arm section fastened to the arm of the wearer so as to permit the hand to be readily liberated outside through the closable opening.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a five-finger glove for use with snowboards or ski requiring a high degree of protection against the cold, in which its main body has a back section provided with a closable opening and a wrist section formed of a stretchable material so that a hand of a wearer of the glove is permitted to be readily liberated outside by a simple operation as it is worn by the wearer.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

An example of a conventional glove has a closable opening at its palm and thus is a bifurcated or a mitten-like shape (for example, see Japanese Provisional Patent Application H08-141132, page 1 and FIG. 2). That glove presents not only a low operability for holding of an object by the hand because the freedom of the movement of the wearer's hand is lacking but also poor design features. Another example of a conventional glove permits exposure of only a limited number of fingers (for example, see Japanese Provisional Patent Application 2000-355807, page 1, FIG. 1). Certain difficulties are encountered when the wearer tries to insert his hand in his pocket or some uneasiness felt in many cases at the slits of the finger sections to that glove. As a solution to such problems, a five-finger glove that can fully liberate the hand has not been developed yet, because high physical difficulties are involved in the manufacture of such an article.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In such gloves requiring a high degree of protection against the cold as for use in snowboards or ski, wearing takes time and delicate hand works with such gloves inevitably have limitations. There have always been inconveniences due to their wearing and repeated removal as necessary and due to retention of the removed glove while some operation or hand work is performed. The present invention has been effected with a view toward solving such problems of the prior art.

To provide a five-finger glove that permits its wearer to readily insert and draw out his hand in and from his pocket to take out its contents and to perform delicate hand works when wearing the glove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the following description and accompanying drawings, while the scope of the invention is set forth in the appended claims.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the five-finger glove of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the five-finger glove according to the present invention showing its state where the hand is exposed; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the five-finger glove according to the present invention showing its state where the hand is liberated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Turning to the drawings, a main body 1 of the glove is provided with an arm fastening means (arm fastener) 5 and a wrist fastening means (wrist fastener) 6 at its arm and wrist sections, respectively, so that when a front end 4 a of a closing flap 4 is pulled up with the above-mentioned arm fastening means (arm fastener) 5 tightened and the above-mentioned wrist fastening means (wrist fastener) 6 loosened, a substantially wide closable opening 2 provided in the back of the main body 1 is opened to disengage from an engaging means 3 on the main body 1 of the glove that surround an opening. Pulling the fingertip portion of the glove causes a stretchable section 7 to extend longitudinally against the arm section fastened to the arm of the wearer so as to permit the hand to be readily liberated outside through the closable opening 2.

Since the hand of the wearer can be readily liberated, the wearer can obtain high convenience and natural movements with the hand itself that cannot be effected when the hand is not liberated. Such natural movements are restored without limitation when liberated. Therefore, the wearer can not only insert his/her hand in his/her pocket to take out its contents with the hand wearing the glove, but also operate or manipulate without any difficulty various electronic devices such as a walkie-talkie and a disk player. Besides, since the main body of the glove is left unremoved from the hand, the wearer needs not to use the remaining hand for holding the otherwise removed glove and is free of bulkiness because there is no need for a place to store such a removed glove.

To implement the invention, the following may be effected:

-   -   a. For making the stretchable section 7 at the wrist section of         the main body 1, a stretchable material is sewn onto both the         back of the outer material and the back fabric so that the wrist         section of the main body can have an adequate stretchability.     -   b. The closable opening 2 is formed in almost a fist size         dimension in the main body 1 of the glove. An engaging means 3         is sewn to the main body 1 when the circumference or periphery         of the opening, while fringing it with a tape. The engaging         means 3 is also sewn to the circumference or periphery of the         closing flap 4. The flap is either formed from the main body or         sewn to the main body 1 to be arranged to close the closable         opening 2.     -   c. The wrist means 6 and the arm fastening means 5 are sewn to         the wrist section and the arm section of the main body 1 of the         glove, respectively, with a desired width and length.     -   d. In order to reduce the sewing process and to cut down         materials cost, the stretchable section 7 may be arranged so as         to permit the hand liberation without using a stretchable         material.     -   e. For the engaging means 3, a piece of VELCRO® zipper, buttons,         hooks, etc. may be selectively used based on the specific main         body material used or a design.

The flap 4 will generally remain in the folded over condition of FIG. 3 during twisting movements of the hand from side to side, unlike the situation if the flap opened to the side rather than toward the wrist. Such twisting movements, therefore, will not cause the flap to fling itself against the wearer's hand. The flap's fold of FIG. 3 extends in a direction that is generally in alignment across the glove with the wrist section.

While the foregoing description and drawings represent the preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. 

1. A five-finger glove comprising a substantially wide closable opening provided at the back of a main body thereof, a wrist section of the main body of the glove being formed to provide the main body with a variable length and a fastening belt being provided at an arm section of the main body of the glove for fastening the same to the arm of a wearer of the glove, a flap attached to the glove to move between a closed position that closes the closable opening to an open position that opens the closable opening, thus a hand of the wearer being permitted to be liberated outside the glove through said opening as it is worn by the wearer, and releasable fasteners on the glove along a periphery of the closable opening and along a periphery of the flap that releasably fastens to each other as the flap reaches the closed position and may be manually pulled apart so the flap may reach the open position.
 2. A five-finger glove of claim 1, wherein the flap opens toward the wrist section so as to fold across the back of the main body generally in alignment with the wrist section.
 3. A five-finger glove of claim 1, wherein the wrist section is formed of a stretchable material.
 4. A five-finger glove of claim 2, wherein the flap is bent in the open position and remains substantially fixed in the bent position despite side to side twisting movements imposed by the arm of the wearer of the glove. 